Illegal immigrants at the Ministry of Internal Affairs on Thursday

By Godfrey Kimono

EIGHTEEN foreigners, most of them Chinese, staying in the country illegally were rounded up by the directorate of citizenship and immigration on Wednesday.

The foreigners, who included Pakistanis and Indians, were netted in the evening raid carried out in Mukono town council. They were transferred to
Kampala and detained overnight at Jinja Road Police station.

“They were brought here in the evening for custody,” said CID boss Herbert Wanyoto.

When contacted, Eunice Kisembo, the spokesperson of the immigration directorate, yesterday described the operation as routine and falls within their mandate.

“Many of them were staying in the country without proper documents,” Kisembo said.

Officials from the directorate raided Mukono Industries, where a bulk of the Indians and Pakistanis were nabbed, and Brilliant Industries where the Chinese were arrested.

At Brilliant Industries, the officials were surprised to learn that the Chinese proprietors, who had been licensed to engage in shoe manufacturing, were instead making bricks, concrete slabs and max pans for construction.

“We are holding them for working without permits and they will be charged with illegal stay,” Kisembo said, adding that the suspects will have to pay the penalty of $30 per day.

She said some of them made attempts to regularize their stay. Those will have documents renewed while others may be deported.